we got cainan when he was almost 3 months old! he was born and raised for that 3 months on a farm and there really werent any kids for the puppies to play with! All the males were stuck in a hen house and the only female left was seperated about 6 feet away in a pig cage(thing) the family was farmers you could tell, the wife worked in town all day at the hospital and the husband was out in the fields all day! they reassured us that they wouldnt have any of these issues because they have grand kids who come over sometimes to play with them! BUT i really dont know how "often" these kids came over! while we were picking out a puppy, none of them had personalities of their own, we let them out of their coop and they all took off running for the field and didnt give any of the "humans" a second look!! we never strike him or abuse him, of course when he was a little younger we'd flick his noise for chewing on feet, clothes and such and when he went potty in the house he'd get a swat on the butt but nothing ruthless! im affraid when we are out walking and he acts this way people are going to think we honestly hurt him and he isnt safe in our care! it's kind of embarrising because we have two normal puppies who walk and play and get excited when we play rough and go for walks but then we have cainan who is just a lab of another color(so to speak) i wish he'd join in when we wrestle and play and crawl on the floor/run around and things of that nature, but he simply runs and hides!